Favorite Quotes

If one going down into a river,
swollen and swiftly flowing,
is carried away by the current –
how can one help others across?
– The Buddha in Sutta Nipāta 2.321

“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
– Aboriginal activists group, Queensland, 1970s

“Ultimately, happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions and the discomfort of being controlled by them.”
-Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

“If you want to go fast go alone, but if you want to go far go together.”
– African Proverb

“Each one of you is perfect the way you are and can use a little improvement.”
– Suzuki Roshi

“Power is the strength and the ability to see yourself through your own eyes and not through the eyes of another. It is being able to place a circle of power at your own feet and not take power from someone else’s circle.”
– Agnes Whistling Elk

“Watch yourself… Even the Buddha and Bodhidharma go on practicing.”
– Fukushima Roshi

“Comparing yourself to others is a violent act.”
– Unknown

“Comparing your insides to other peoples’ outsides is a dangerous game.”
-Andrea Chilton

The enlightened one,
seeing how the world arises rejects the idea of non-being
seeing how the world perishes rejects the idea of being.
Therefore, in her wisdom she sees no persons,
and in her compassion she vows to save them
– Fu Schroeder

Whatever happens
Whatever is, is
Is what I want
Only that
But that
– Galway Kinnell

“No matter how big a nation is, it is no stronger that its weakest people, and as long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you might otherwise.”
– Marian Anderson

“Fall down seven times, get up eight.”
– Daruma Daishi

“Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and whatever you resist, persists.”
– Eckhart Tolle

“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
– Abrahamm Maslow

To know who we are, we need to understand that we have two natures. One is called ourordinary nature, which is made up of unpleasant feelings such as fear, anger, and jealousy. The other is our true nature, the part of us that is pure, wise, and perfect. In Buddhism, it is called the Buddha nature. The only difference between us and the Buddha is that we have not awakened to our true nature.
– http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/footsteps.htm

“A man’s home is finished the day that he dies.”
– Japanese Proverb

“We do not learn from experience, but from our willingness to experience.”
– unknown